Texas Center to Install Battery Energy Storage System

Samsung SDI and Xtreme Power have been selected by the Center for the Commercialization of Electric Technologies to install a 1MW/1MWh Lithium Ion-based Battery Energy Storage System system at the Reese Technology Center in Lubbock, Texas. The US$27-million demonstration project is jointly funded by CCET partners and the U.S. Department of Energy. The system will be owned and operated by South Plains Electric Cooperative.

The storage system (BESS) will be connected to SPEC's distribution grid at the Reese Technology Center as part of an ongoing wind technology program managed by GroupNIRE and Texas Tech University. The BESS will focus on combing utility-scale energy storage with wind generation. Potential uses for the BESS include mitigating intermittent fluctuations of a number of nearby wind turbines, regulating the distribution bus voltage, serving as spinning reserve, and providing frequency support during the loss of generation.

The project marks the first order for the newly formed Samsung SDI / Xtreme Power alliance. Coupling Samsung SDI's Lithium Manganese Oxide battery with Xtreme Power's Xtreme Active Control Technology (XACT), the two firms have partnered to create an optimal energy storage solution for renewable integration and grid support.

The LMO battery provides safety, quality, high energy densities, and cost-competitiveness. The same battery is being used by automobile companies in the United States and Europe in their electric vehicles. This technology, together with XACT's millisecond response time, will enable renewable generation to attain higher levels of penetration on the grid, as well as supply suitable grid support services, such as frequency response, voltage support and ramp rate control.